Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bedtime for critical bozos?

What can you say when you've watched a critic doze off twice during a show, and then read his/her highly mixed review of said performance, when it actually was one of the highlights of the season (which said critic might have indeed appreciated if he/she had been awake)?

That's this week's Professional (or should I say Unprofessional?) Quandary! And don't think it only rarely happens. I've dozed off myself during a few shows - Carmel O'Reilly's productions in particular used to work on me like Sominex, and I recently nodded off (appropriately enough) during Tranced at the Merrimack Rep. But I made a reference to this in my review. Also, I've never caught some shut-eye during anything great, or even half-way decent. (I know, I know, Louise Kennedy and Ronan Noone think Carmel O'Reilly is a genius. Right.) To be blunt, I've always been aware well before the mental curtain descended that what I was watching was in-credibly boring . . . boring . . . bor . .zzzzzz. . . .

But when everybody else (including the other critics) is riveted by a performance, but one particular éminence grise is nevertheless in dreamland (i.e., head slumped over, emitting a light snore), what is one to do? Perhaps next time I should be a bit more proactive with the old collegial elbow-jab!